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Trump & Xi Hail Positive Talks as World Awaits Day 2 of Summit; Trump Says Xi Pledged Not to Provide Iran with Military Equipment; Iranians Place Hopes in China Ties as Trump and Xi Meet; 5P ET: Supreme Court Deadline on Abortion Drug Mifepristone; Kentucky Voters Facing Loyalty Test in GOP Primary 3-3:30p ET

Aired May 14, 2026 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: ... a very close eye on in the next couple of months, not just to see when exactly do we transition to an El Nino advisory, which means it's here, it's happening, but also what are the impacts as we head into the latter portion of the year, specifically the winter months, saying starting in November all the way through December, January and February.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right. We'll be tracking that. Allison, thank you so much. And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Thanks, but no thanks. President Trump says Chinese President Xi is offering help on Iran, though the administration has repeatedly said we do not need it.

And a deadline for the Supreme Court, again, justices at the high court of just two hours before they need to make a decision on access to medication abortion by mail.

And your A.I. financial advisor will see you now. But as more people turn to A.I. to help them with their money, there's new reporting today about why that may not be a good idea.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Toasts, tributes, talking and underlying tension. Day one of President Trump's historic summit with China's Xi Jinping is now in the books and there is now new concern over what day two may bring after both superpowers raised the stakes on critical issues. Earlier, Xi said that Taiwan is, quote, the most important issue in China-U.S. relations, adding that it could lead to a very dangerous situation if it's handled poorly.

As for the war with Iran, President Trump said today that Xi told him China will not give Iran any military equipment. He also said that Xi offered him help with dealing with Tehran. CNN's Alayna Treene is live for us at the White House.

Alayna, what more have you been watching?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, look, I think this first full day of President Donald Trump being in Beijing, meeting face to face with President Xi, look, you could tell both of them wanted to tout what they argued was a strong and stable relationship between these two countries. I do think a lot of the headlines, particularly if you look at those in China today, are focused on President Xi's comments, almost that veiled threat regarding Taiwan.

He talked about Xi, the strength of the U.S. and Chinese relationship at this point, but said that, as you mentioned, Taiwan could be the thing that could derail that. And so, it was a bit of a warning you heard. And I think the most direct way, you know, having him say that with President Trump in the room, the most direct he's been about Taiwan, really, in recent history.

But I do think also a big thing that had been looming over this entire summit was, of course, the Iran issue. And what is interesting is actually, if you listen to what the Chinese are saying, but also even people like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, they argued that there wasn't much new that had been agreed to or said regarding the Chinese position on Iran.

The president, however, President Trump argues that -- that Xi did offer to help and try to solve the war. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Xi would like to see a deal made. He would -- he would like to see a deal made. And he did offer, he said, if I can be of any help at all, I would like to be of help. He'd like to see the Hormuz Strait open.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, look, I think one of the key things here is obviously you're hearing this from President Trump saying that he was offering help. Again, I do want to be clear that Marco Rubio said that while the issue came up, the U.S. didn't ask for China's help, nor do they think that they need it. But I'd keep in mind why it's so important. I mean, China is clearly an ally of Iran's. They also rely heavily on Iran for their oil. They're the biggest consumer of Iranian oil. And this idea of them wanting the Strait to be reopened and also, you know, kind of criticizing this idea of a potential toll, Iran putting a toll for vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Those are things we have previously heard China say.

We are interested to hear what more specifics they discussed on Iran. And I will say as well, this was not the only meeting that President Trump and President Xi are having. They are expected to meet again in a much closed, a much closer, smaller kind of intimate environment tomorrow morning before President Trump departs back to the United States. And so, we'll be keeping close tabs, Boris, on what more specifically they discussed on this particular issue.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene live for us at the White House, thank you so much for that update. Brianna.

KEILAR: In the meantime, officials in Tehran are reportedly relishing this moment as they watch the President's trip to China closely. A headline on Iranian state media today reading, quote, "Trump visits China in the shadow of failure and stalemate."

Right now, China is one of the few countries that is actually able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

[15:05:05]

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live in Jerusalem.

Jeremy, what are you hearing?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, Iranian officials are eager for China to help mediate an end to this war in Iran. And coincidentally, it seems the United States is also eager for China to get involved, although perhaps with different aims from both sides.

It was clear going into this summit that the United States was going to press China to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. And what we're hearing today from U.S. officials is very much seeming like China is willing to use its influence to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. That's what we just heard not long ago from the U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is speaking on CNBC, indicating that China will use its influence toward that aim. And the U.S. now seems confident that that is China's position.

We haven't yet officially heard from China, though, whether or not they will actually take steps to try and influence Iran to reopen the Strait. They do, of course, have an incentive all on their own. Analysts estimate that China imports, you know, 10- to 12 percent of its imports come from Iran, its imports of oil. And so, it has its own incentives to actually do that.

President Trump also indicated that Iran has agreed not to provide any military equipment to Iran, although you'll recall it wasn't so long ago that President Trump talked about a Chinese cargo ship that was intercepted with something that he referred to as perhaps a gift to the Iranians.

But ultimately, you know, what's clear is that this this conflict overall is not something that's going to end with Chinese intervention. We have watched as the U.S. and Iran are still very, very far apart at the negotiating table. But China could certainly wield significant influence here if they choose to get involved, both in terms of their incentives from an oil perspective, but also, of course, in terms of their alliance with Iran.

KEILAR: And Jeremy, what's the latest on the state of ceasefire talks between Israel and Lebanon?

DIAMOND: Well, Brianna, we saw today the third round of these negotiations involving the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington mediated by the United States. And we also saw the interesting addition of two officials on either side. The Israelis brought the deputy national security adviser and the Lebanese government brought the former Lebanese ambassador to Washington, Simon Karam, who had previously been tapped and actually led direct negotiations with Israel back in December before this current round of negotiations began.

And that may be an indication that they are going deeper into the actual substance of these negotiations, as those are figures who would be involved in actually going into the details of how to disarm Hezbollah, what that looks like in terms of the support that the Lebanese government would need and what potential Lebanese Israeli normalization would actually look like. But those negotiations once again today took place against the backdrop of multiple Israeli strikes in Lebanon, as the Israeli military said it went after dozens of Hezbollah targets.

And Hezbollah also fired a drone towards northern Israel, which injured several Israeli civilians in northern Israel. That of course has been the backdrop. But what is necessary in order for these talks to move forward is an extension of that current ceasefire, even though that ceasefire simply means a paring back of the attacks and not a halt altogether. It is critical to extend that ceasefire, which is set to expire in a matter of days in order for those talks to move forward. Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that report.

Still to come, the Supreme Court's 5 P.M. deadline quickly approaching to decide if they'll continue to allow access to an abortion pill by mail. How this decision could impact the most common method of abortion in the country.

And then later, is using A.I. for personal finances safe? We dig into the possible impacts of the growing trend. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:13:26]

SANCHEZ: So, we're just a few hours away from a critical court deadline involving the abortion drug mifepristone. At 5 P.M. Eastern, the administrative order that allows access to the pill through telehealth visits will expire and the Supreme Court has to decide what comes next.

KEILAR: mifepristone has become a crucial option for patients who are seeking abortions in states where the procedure is banned. As we wait, let's turn to CNN's Paula Reid and Joan Biskupic for more on what could happen here at 5 P.M.

Paula, first, just lay out the case here. How do we get to this point?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So, this is one of the biggest abortion-related questions to come before the Supreme Court since the fall of Roe, and we're talking about here mifepristone. It's one of two medications that are prescribed to women who are going through a medication abortion. Now, at one time, pre-COVID, this medicine was only available if you

did an in-person appointment, but during COVID, the regulations were changed so that you could actually have a telehealth appointment, a virtual appointment, and it would be mailed to you.

Now, the FDA subsequently made that permanent, but that changed. The fact that you can get mifepristone through a telehealth appointment, have it mailed to you, this has been the subject of a lot of litigation.

Now, in the wake of the overturning of Roe, there has been an increase in demand for medication abortion, as many conservative states have, of course, closed their clinics that performed abortion. So, about two weeks ago, the Fifth Circuit, the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, held that, in fact, you should only be able to get mifepristone through an in-person appointment. Not surprisingly, drug makers appealed that to the Supreme Court, saying, well, if you do that, that's going to create chaos for people who have their appointments and are waiting for this.

[15:15:08]

SANCHEZ: Joan, walk us through the potential scenarios we could see at 5 P.M., what the justices could do.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure. About 90 minutes left, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BISKUPIC: And this is the second time that the justices were about to give us an order, but they keep buying time. Clearly, they're struggling behind the scenes. Here are some of the potential options, and they might even have more than what I'm going to suggest.

But the first one would be to say, all right, we're going to actually hear this appeal from the drug makers. We're going to look at the merits of their claim that the lower court was wrong here to suddenly lift the protections that had been in place to have the telehealth and mail-in option.

They would -- if they did that, they would likely continue to this day and just keep the status quo with access to the abortion pill being readily available. They could set those arguments for, for example, this month. But that would be tricky because they are now in the last six weeks of finishing up this term, so they have many, many big cases to resolve.

So, they could maybe set arguments for the fall, which would be a predictable step. Or they could say, we're going to keep the hold on that lower court order so that there is still access to telehealth and mail-in order. And we'll let the lower court proceedings play out, which would be, frankly, like a very logical thing because the justices really like to have the merits tested by lower courts.

But finally, what they could also do is just say, we're not going to stay this order anymore. We're going to let the Fifth Circuit determination here go into effect, and that will seriously restrict access to the drug.

Final thing, for all of us who've been up on deadlines, they could say, well, we're really not ready quite yet. They did that on Monday. They said, we aren't ready. We need more time. They could do another what's known as an administrative stay and say, maybe, if they do that, please don't do it for a Friday deadline. Give yourselves a little more time. Give it till next week, so we -- we will see ...

KEILAR: Yes.

BISKUPIC: ... by 5 P.M., they say.

KEILAR: Doesn't fly in news, but they set their own rules as far as that goes.

BISKUPIC: Right.

KEILAR: So, as Joan mentioned, there are a number of cases that are yet to be resolved. What's still pending, Paula?

REID: A lot of big cases. The two major themes that I'm tracking most closely, presidential power, right? A lot of questions about the President's power to fire certain federal workers and also questions about birthright citizenship, the extent of a presidential power to be able to eliminate a right like that through executive order.

But something else we're also watching really closely are questions related to the election, right? Mail-in ballots, when can they arrive? Also, a lot of questions around redistricting, gerrymandering, a lot of that -- those questions being after their decision about a week ago related to district -- redistricting in Louisiana.

So, those are the big themes that I'm really focused on. But a lot of other interesting cases about transgender athletes in school sports. Over the next six weeks, we will hopefully get answers on most of those questions.

SANCHEZ: Paula and Joan, thank you both so much. We'll see what they do at 5 P.M.

So, it is a loyalty test of sorts for Kentucky voters heading to the polls next week. Are they going to side with President Trump or his political nemesis, Thomas Massie? Hear what voters have to say about the divide after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:57]

KEILAR: One of the most expensive primary contests in the country is taking place in none other than the very red state of Kentucky. Next week, Republican Congressman, Thomas Massie will be facing the toughest election of his career. He's going up against a primary challenger backed by President Trump and this race is shaping up to be a major loyalty test for voters that could reveal how the President's MAGA movement is holding up. CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny is here with more on this race.

You spoke to voters in Kentucky. Tell us what they told you.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Breonna, there's considerable loyalty for President Trump, not surprisingly, of course. President Trump won this district by 67 percent back in 2024, but there's also deep admiration for Thomas Massie, so that is where the conundrum begins here. Of course, Trump is not on the ballot here, but he's very much a central player in this race.

Now, there's no doubt that it's now a time for choosing for all the Kentucky voters and what it's going to show is if standing up to Trump has consequences for Massie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Can you escape this fight ...

JONI PUGH, KENTUCKY REPUBLICAN VOTER: No.

ZELENY: ... between Trump and Massie?

PUGH: No. It's everywhere. It really is. And that's what really worries me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voiceover): Joni Pugh feels like she's stuck in the middle of a family feud between President Trump and Congressman Thomas Massie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PUGH: And I'm not putting Trump down at all because I'm very much a fan of his, but I'm still going to vote for Thomas. I think he's a great guy. He's very careful about he wants -- how he wants our taxpayer money need to be spent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voiceover): No Republican has infuriated Trump more than Massie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We got to get rid of this loser.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voiceover): Who led the charge to release the Epstein files.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): I'm not going to give up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voiceover): And voted against the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASSIE: It's going to add to the deficit. It's all -- everything else is semantics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voiceover): Two of many grievances the president won't forget.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He's disloyal to the Republican Party. He's disloyal to the people of Kentucky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voiceover): That loyalty will be tested next Tuesday when Massie faces Ed Gallrein, a farmer and former Navy SEAL, in a district stretching from the Louisville suburbs up to Cincinnati, and along the Ohio river.

[15:25:05]

More than $29 million has been spent on TV ads in one of the most expensive House primaries ever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE FRANK, KENTUCKY REPUBLICAN VOTER: And the problem is, Thomas Massie has burned every bridge he could possibly have to be effective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voiceover): Steve Frank is among the Republicans who believes northern Kentucky needs a member of Congress who's not a White House enemy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK: He will say in his own statistics, he agrees with Trump in the Republican leadership 91 percent of the time. Well, hey, you know, a monkey shares 91 percent of our DNA with us, but they ain't the same thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voiceover): Massie has long stood up to the establishment of both parties. After first winning 14 years ago in the Tea Party era as a deficit hawk, he defends his independent libertarian brand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MASSIE: There's three branches of government, and we're supposed to keep each other accountable. And that's what we're doing here today in the people's house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voiceover): In seven elections, Massie has never faced an onslaught like this, including an attack ad with A.I. images depicting a romantic relationship with two Democratic congresswomen.

ANNOUNCER: Thomas Massie caught in a throuple in Washington.

ZELENY (voiceover): Massie blasted the ad from a Trump aligned super PAC as disgusting and defamatory.

Steve Doan, a Republican lawmaker and friend of Massie's, said some voters are torn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVE DOAN (R-KY): How do I square this? You know, Trump doesn't like him, but I like him and I just don't know what to do. And I always compare it to mommy and daddy fighting. You know, we love both of those people. We love Trump. We love Thomas. And we just have kind of figured it out here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voiceover): Inside the Short Stop Diner in Garrison, Nedra Jamison said she votes for the person, not party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEDRA JAMISON, KENTUCKY REPUBLICAN VOTER: I like Thomas, I like Trump.

ZELENY (on camera): So, Trump came in here and said, don't vote for Massie. What would you say?

JAMISON: I'd say, well, if I want to vote for him, I'll vote for him. If I don't want to vote for him, I won't vote for him. It's my -- it's my choice, not yours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY (voiceover): Ramona Bivens believes the attacks on Massie could backfire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAMONA BIVENS, KENTUCKY REPUBLICAN VOTER: Well, I'll go for Thomas. Just because Trump's giving him such a hard time.

ZELENY (on camera): That's why you're going to vote for him.

BIVENS: Yes.

ZELENY: Why is that?

BIVENS: Yes, I just think it's silly. It's politics. And they're running for office. They're not running against each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (on camera): Now, many of these voters here have known Massie all his life. He grew up in the district, so it is a test for his endurance. There's no doubt. But Brianna so fascinating that this moment about $30 million is coming in almost all of it from the outside. Massie is getting outspent. That's why many Republicans there wonder if he may be at the end of the line.

KEILAR: But really, after 14 years in Congress, has Thomas Massie changed or has his party changed?

ZELENY: And that is a central question. He has not changed. He came of era of age in the Tea Party era. He was elected first time back in 2014. You remember that. It's when spending was a central issue for the party. Of course, the party is entirely different now in the age of Donald Trump. So, Massie has been consistent, but the party, there's no doubt is entirely different. And Trump is infuriated by Massie and wants to take him out.

KEILAR: Yes, really interesting race to watch. Jeff, thank you so much for bringing us those voices.

ZELENY: You bet.

KEILAR: We appreciate it.

Still ahead, the key points on the agenda for day two of talks between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)